When Joanne Urbigkeit looks across the snow-blanketed landscape of Diamond Lake, clicks into her cross-country skis and prepares for a winter day in the Southern Cascades, she can’t help but feel like a little kid.

The 75-year-old Salem resident loves gliding through frosted-white forest and below the towering peaks of Mount Bailey and Thielsen, drinking in cold air and dropping (very carefully) down hills.

“We don’t see snow in the valley very often,” she said. “And when I see all that snow in the trees, the scenery of the mountains, it really makes me feel like a little kid going out to play.”

Each winter for the past six years, Urbigkeit’s passport into Diamond Lake snow has been the annual Senior Ski and Snowshoe Week.

A tradition at Diamond Lake Resort for more then 20 years, the four-day gathering offers an experience geared specifically toward those 50 years and older.

No experience is required and all equipment can be rented. Lessons and food are provided, and the daily catalog of guided tours range from beginner to intermediate.

“The unique part is that it’s all seniors — you’re not going out with a bunch of gung-ho skiers a million miles into the backcounty to ski really crazy stuff,” said Marcia Hoak of Salem, who has taken part the past five years. “Another great thing is that you don’t have to do all the driving.

“You stay up there four days at a time — there’s no driving there-and-back — and you can just focus on having fun.”

Part of the fun — at least for many of the 10 to 12 Salem seniors who make the trip each year — is the ride to Diamond Lake.

Tickets for Amtrak’s Coast Starlight for the segment between Salem and Chemult go for prices as low as $30. Diamond Lake arranges a pick-up from the train station.

“I always take the train; it’s a part of the trip that I really enjoy,” Urbigkeit said. “It’s just long enough that it makes you feel like you’re going some place.”

The event lures about 80 to 90 people each year. And once they arrive, there’s a sort of “menu” style list of trips and classes that participants can browse each morning. There are easy and intermediate trips, cross-country ski and snowshoe trips, classes that cover basic skills and those to help people feel comfortable with hills.

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“One of the things I like is that you don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn,” Hoak said. “Each night they list all the possible outings and you can choose what you want to do. There are usually six to 10 different options.”

The tour includes trails all over the Diamond Lake area. Destinations might include the south shore of Diamond Lake, the Hemlock Butte Shelter on Mount Bailey, or Clearwater Falls or the summit of Cinnamon Butte. There have even been one-way tours from the rim of Crater Lake back to Diamond Lake.

Again and again, the element that participants said made the trip so worthwhile was the no-stress, friendly atmosphere.

“I’ve been on some trips, in the past, where it feels like people are trying to show off,” Urbigkeit said. “But here there is no competition. Some people are pretty good and some have never been skiing before, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone is just very nice.”

Rick Rockholt, marketing director at Diamond Lake, said that everyone should sign up in advance but that getting a spot wouldn’t be a problem. He said calling the resort at (800) 733-7593 (Ext. 222) was the best way to get started, although information can be found at diamondlake.net.

Most people stay in cabins, he said, and many share cabins, which run $250 per night, to reduce cost.

“The cabins sleep six and most of the people who go up bunch together to reduce cost,” Rockholt said.

And, of course, while the skiing and snowshoeing are the point of the trip, Urbigkeit said that it’s by no means required.

“You can spend the entire day at the lodge, drinking hot chocolate and looking outside at the beauty,” she said. “Everything about it really is fun.”

“If people haven’t come before they shouldn’t be shy,” Rockholt said. “The folks that come are wonderfully friendly and the instruction is geared toward, and directed by seniors.”

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer in Oregon for six years and blogs at statesmanjournal.

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